1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to functional footwear of a new concept, which adapts itself to the shape of a foot and gives a soft feeling when walking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Examples of general footwear are shoes and socks.
The structure of a general shoe has been variously developed according to the usage thereof. The general shoe includes an upper part, covering the top portion of a foot and maintaining the appearance and shape of the shoe, and a sole. In the sole, an outsole making contact with the ground, a midsole positioned between the outsole and a lasting board, a lasting board formed of a hard material for maintaining the appearance of the shoe and functioning as a connection portion between the upper part and the sole, and an insole for hiding waste threads, tacks, and nails are sequentially stacked.
Here and afterwards the word lasting board shall be understood to be the part of a standard shoe defining its shape and stability of the shoe. The lasting board normally is situated between the insole and the midsole. The lasting board further serves as a connection part between the upper part of the shoe and its sole.
Further, a general sock, especially an ankle sock, includes an upper portion covering a top portion of a foot and a bottom portion surrounding the bottom of the foot.
In relation to the feeling when walking, a shoe for absorbing an impact due to the weight of a wearer during walking or exercise, by inserting an elastic body into the portion between the lasting board and the outsole or forming a midsole out of an elastic material, has been suggested. However, in the structure of the conventional shoe, since the lasting board cannot be made of a soft and elastic material but can be made only of a hard material in order to function as a connecting portion of the upper and the sole, to maintain the shape of the shoe, and to fix the midsole or the elastic body inserted into the midsole, there has been a limit in obtaining a sufficiently soft touch in the aspect of the feeling when walking with which the shoe adapts itself to the shape of the foot.
In the conventional shoe, the problem of the hard lasting board has been supplemented by generally using an insole. However, even in this case, since the shoe has a hard lasting board at a lower portion of the insole, there also has been a limit in obtaining a sufficiently soft touch in the aspect of the feeling when walking.
In the case of an ankle sock, there has been an effort to lessen the partial impact and to improve the wearing feeling by using double woven fabrics at the bottom portion thereof. However, since the ankle sock assumes the wearing function of a shoe, there still has been a limit in obtaining a sufficiently soft touch in the aspect of the feeling when walking with which the sock adapts itself to the shape of the foot.
In the case of a functional shoe used for orthopaedic objects such as form correction, improvement or prevention of muscular skeleton problems, and assistance of rehabilitation, and for exercises of predetermined portions such as reinforcement of predetermined muscles, the objects are generally accomplished by an insole of a shoe.
Further, European Patent Nos. 0999764 and 1124462 disclose functional shoes for the orthopaedic objects and for exercises of predetermined portions of the human body.
In the patents, a shape including a hard-soft-transition portion is defined between the foot and the ground surface. As a result, a rolling process is compulsorily performed, reliant upon the desired type during walking or additional load is applied to a predetermined muscle(s) when walking such that the shoe corresponds to a predetermined object(s) necessary for a wearer of a shoe.
Further, the above-mentioned shoe has the object of simulating the feeling of walking, for example, on non-flat surfaces such as a sandy plain, forest soil, or a pasture, while being used on a flat surface such as an asphalt road, a concrete, or a plate bottom.
However, since the above-mentioned functional shoe includes a hard lasting board or a separate hard structure for maintaining the appearance of the shoe, there has been a limit in obtaining a sufficiently soft touch in the aspect of the feeling when walking with which the shoe adapts itself to the shape of the foot.
Further, since the functional shoe works as a compulsory therapy demanding a predetermined walking method and a predetermined posture to a wearer, the wearer should maintain the balance using the required locomotive organs such as muscles and skeletons. The walking method or the regulation of the walking posture is determined by the use of a hard or soft insertion material having a bottom structure of a predetermined shape. An orthopaedist deliberately determines how the wearer should act and which attitude the wearer should take and accordingly the predetermined shape of the bottom structure is determined.
However, the predetermined shape of the bottom structure can be unsuitable for individual symptoms and have a danger of demanding wrong posture over a long period of time due to an unsuitable diagnosis of an orthopaedist.
In the conventional shoes used for functions, it is often necessary for the shoes to adapt themselves to the individual walking methods and the individual structures of locomotive organs in order to have an excellent effect for the orthopaedic objects or the exercises for predetermined portions. However, in general, as well as if a wearer selects a wrong structure or an orthopaedist makes an inaccurate diagnosis, the functional shoes are not comfortable when the shoes are initially worn, are difficult to wear, and can cause a complete inconvenience at the worst. Such a situation arises when wearers need to adapt themselves to the shoes.
Not only do the wearers adjust themselves to the shoe but also the shoe adapt itself to the shape of the wearer's foot and the walking methods of the wearers in the shoes and the lasting boards, which are manufactured of leather or cloth by a simple method.
However, fiber, plastic, and rubber, currently used as synthetic materials, have a basic limit in adapting the soft materials to the foot of the wearer due to their characteristics and the structures of the above-mentioned shoes.
Further, it has been studied and proved experimentally that giving comfortableness to the feet of a wearer and allowing the maximum degree of freedom has an orthopaedic healing effect by the motion sequence of the wearer. This has a thread of connection with a report stating that people from the countryside that walk barefoot on soft natural ground maintain locomotive organs far fitter than city dwellers wearing standardized shoes.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a footwear of a new concept which adapts itself to the wearer to provide complete comfortableness during walking and allows the maximum degree of freedom to a foot even if some or all of the structures for maintaining the appearance of the footwear are abandoned.